President Zuma launches R53.5 million Rural Development Hub in Mbizana

Page Content

President Jacob Zuma officially launched the Mbizana Rural Enterprise Development (RED) Hub, which is an OR Tambo Centenary Project at Dyifani village in Mbizana, in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality.In his State of the Nation Address in February, President Zuma declared 2017 the year of Oliver Reginald Tambo, who would have been 100 had he lived.The Mbizana RED Hub is one of the four RED hubs in the Eastern Cape, implemented by the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR)’s agency, the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency (ECRDA) and covers six wards which constitute 14 villages in the Mbizana Local Municipality. These wards have registered 14 primary co-operatives that have then formed a secondary co-operative which is a structure that owns the RED Hub.The RED Hub, which is an investment of R53.3 million, will service the villages with a strong focus on value addition of grain as well as Hub primary production, mechanisation and establishment of a trading centre for farmers to assist cooperatives in growing the local rural economy to create jobs and sustainable livelihoods.